NorthFlora Collective shares houseplant hacks amid cold temperatures

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - Keith and Rocky Pogge from NorthFlora Collective shared hacks to properly care for your houseplants.

Eggshell Fertilizer

• Crush cleaned and dried egg shells, and sprinkle them on the soil for a calcium boost.
• This can also benefit many flower and fruit-bearing plants like tomatoes, aubergines, and strawberries.

Homemade Pesticide Spray

• Mix water with a few drops of dish soap (Castile soap) and neem oil to help get rid of spider mites, mealy bugs, and aphids.
• Use Diatomaceous Earth (crushed up shells/silica of marine animals) to kill soft-bodied insects like aphids, mealy bugs, fungus gnats, thrips and spider mites.
• For scale and other scaly-type pests, use a q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol to rub the adult/larger pests off the plant.
  • Then, follow up with a spray made with a tablespoon of Diatomaceous Earth (DE), neem oil and/or soap, and fill the rest with water.
  • The wet application allows the DE to get into the nooks and crannies where the younger scale hide, and when it dries, the DE dehydrates the pests and kills them.

Coffee Grounds For Acid-Loving Plants

• Used coffee grounds can be added to the soil of acid-loving plants like azaleas and hydrangeas to enhance their growth.

Banana Peels

• Cut them into small pieces, put them in a container of water, leave them for two or three days, strain it, and then water your plants with it
• You can also place them on top of plants, such as staghorns. This gives them a potassium boost (which can promote fruiting and flowering), and small amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus, which can contribute to the overall health and growth of your plants.

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